Vision disorders affect over 150 million Americans and are the most prevalent handicapping conditions in childhood. Early detection of vision disorder increases the likelihood of effective treatment that can decrease the negative impact of vision disorders and can improve the quality of life.
Vision screening is particularly important at early age. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Academy of Opthalmology (AAO), American Association for Pediatric Opthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS), and American Optometric Association (AOA) recommend that vision screening should be performed at the earliest possible age and at regular intervals during childhood. However, more than 85% of preschool children have never received comprehensive eye examinations, and more than 78% of preschool children have never received any type of vision screening. Further, a 1999 report of American Foundation for Visual Awareness indicates that school vision screening identifies only one out of four children who have vision problems.
Some vision problems, if undetected and untreated, can prevent proper development of the brain's binocular function, such as a condition of amblyopia or lazy eye. Because children's eyesight and ocular functions are not fully developed until age 5-6, the damage can be permanent unless the “neglected” eye is corrected before the critical age of 5-6. The most common causes of amblyopia (2-5% in the US) are anisometropia (the refractive error difference between two eyes) and strabismus (crossed eyes, 3-4% in the U.S.). However, no current device that is appropriate for large-scale screening simultaneously satisfies multi-functional assessment requirements of AAP guidelines with the desired performance of efficiency and accuracy, or sensitivity and specificity.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.